


My Sister, My Heart

by ParanoidMiscreant



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Best Friends, Brother-Sister Relationships, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Male-Female Friendship, Sibling Bonding, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 19:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17648894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParanoidMiscreant/pseuds/ParanoidMiscreant
Summary: A mysteriously possessed Donna Troy has all but wiped out the Titans, and Dick tries to make a last stand against her. But he cannot bring himself to take down his closest friend.





	My Sister, My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I needed some Dick and Donna sibling feels in my life, and this was the result. Some people might see this as being 'more than' friendship/siblingship, but that was not my aim. (Also, this takes place on a Titans team where Jason has joined as Robin.)

"KORI!" Nightwing grits his teeth fiercely, his masked eyes narrowing as he watches the violence before him. Horrified, furious, every vein in his body pumps with boiling blood, and his muscles tighten as he readies himself to fight again.

Troia turns her head in his direction, her eyes burning a solid, empty, faded crimson, no longer the vibrant blue hue he has always looked into. Thick streams of blood run down both cheeks from her eyes, like tears of hatred and pure, utter malice pouring from her spirit. Against the wall, she has the Tamaranean pinned effortlessly by her neck, her fingers wrapped tightly and clenching mercilessly as she could easily crush her.

Kori's struggles grow weaker, her green eyes blurring with the remnants of tears; her body is bloodied and bruised from the fight she has put up against Troia, and earlier Nightwing knew he had heard bones being broken. Seeing Starfire held within the ruthless grasp of this...monster...not only her body hurting, but also her spirit, fighting for her life against her closest friend...to see his lover, strong and vibrant, now so utterly powerless, it breaks through Nightwing's pain and spurs him one last time to make a last stand.

His expression contorted in rage, he gathers strength anew and charges at Troia with a battle cry, his shout full of such fury he had not known he was capable of. Behind his mask, his eyes burn with fire, his instinct to protect Starfire fuelling him like a berserker. Fists clenching his tonfas, he quickly closes the distance between them and brings an upward strike to Troia's face, knocking her off and forcing her to release the Tamaranean. Kori collapses, lying weakly on the floor, just barely managing a hoarse cough to regain some oxygen -- but he does not stop there. Having gained the upper hand, still fuelled by rage, Nightwing fights, batters, pummels Troia with his weapons, hitting every weak point he has long been trained to target. It is almost second nature to him to aim where his enemy would be incapacitated: Face, joints, ribs, stomach; he swings one tonfa at her jaw and then knocks the wind out of her with a direct hit to her gut.

Still lying helplessly on the floor, Starfire's vision is fogged with tears as she can barely make out the blurred figures of her best friend and her lover in battle, every injury in her body aching. "Dick..." she half-whispers, her fingers curling slightly on one limp hand.

He keeps going, a seemingly endless flood of adrenaline powering him like a locomotive while Troia takes on his nonstop barrage of damage. He is winning, he thinks. He may be able to turn the tides and put an end to her rampage, save what is left of the Titans. His breath is hot as he pants furiously, giving her not a second to strike back. For a moment, he even begins to feel a sick satisfaction from the sound and sensation of his weapons battering her flesh, anger driving his thoughts, his emotions, his very instincts. And it is that moment -- that nauseating, terrifying, fleeting instant of ruthless vengeance being gratified by violence -- that he hesitates. He was crossing the line. The one he vowed never to cross. Against one of the last people on this earth he ever wanted to lose. A twinge of fear causes his stomach to knot and his movements to falter. Oh, god -- he could _kill_ Troia. His best friend and dearest companion. His very soul...

Nightwing's moment of weakness is all that the crazed, possessed Amazon needs to find an opening. She turns back to him to stare him down, her red eyes burning anew with sheer murder. And he hasn't even scratched her...Whatever entity, energy, pure darkness has taken her over, it has turned her into an unstoppable killing machine, one he has foolishly enraged.

Her hand shoots forward and clasps his face, and Troia lifts and then slams Nightwing's body hard into the floor. Pain shoots and throbs through every fibre upon impact, and she bears down on him, ready to crush his skull with one well-aimed fist. Thinking fast, he aims his wrist toward her face, and a taser shoots from the utility gauntlet around his forearm. It is enough to shock and distract her, even to bring a short cry of pain from her as she reaches up to tear away the wires and hooks which send burning shocks through her neck and chest. He strikes at her ankles with one foot, knocking her to the floor as he sweeps her feet from under her, and then jumps on her to wrap her in a headlock from behind. She rams one elbow behind her to hit his stomach, stunning and knocking the wind out of him before throwing herself backward in order to slam him down on the floor once again.

"Nnngh!" He curls up in pain, his muscles screaming, and he is forced to let her go. Troia spins round and straddles him fiercely, her legs squeezing and trapping him beneath her on each side of his hips. She back-fists him with a force that just barely threatens to snap his neck, and it shatters the right side of his mask so that one now-visible eye peers up at her. Fear, heartache, and the defiant will to survive, all gleam within his eye. Miraculously, every bone in his body hasn't completely shattered...but his heart races as he fears for his life, as well as the lives of the other Titans. Once she kills him, she will undoubtedly destroy the entire team, before moving on in a genocidal spree.

Again, Troia's hand reaches for his face, her fingers clawing on one side and her nails piercing his scalp beneath his hair. She raises her other hand, now curled into a formidable fist, and her lips veer back with an animal-like snarl. Teeth showing, eyes glaring and full of malice, she appears like the embodiment of destruction itself. He looks up at her, wanting to yell, to fight back, to at least defy her in his last moment -- or, rather, to defy the dark entity which has consumed her. But as he looks into her face, squinting against the pain, he sees past her crimson eyes, and past the streams of blood upon her features and the rage twisting her from the inside. Nightwing knows that she has him right where she can kill him -- she could have _already_ killed him -- but he also feels her...hesitating.

Her raised arm trembles as if an invisible hand holds it back. Somewhere inside, deep beneath the nameless force driving her mad, Donna's will struggles fiercely. He can feel her fighting, not only to resist the command to kill, but to protect him to the very end -- even if it should shatter her spirit -- and every stab of pain that shoots through him suddenly seems so dear to him, piercing his heart.

Heaven help him...he can't fight her anymore. He can't defy her or damn her, even though he might die by her hand. Every moment they have ever been through together -- joy, suffering, every secret and feeling they have shared -- runs through Dick's mind, both of their lives flashing before him, remembering every year within an instant over which they have built an unbreakable bond. They were one and the same, a single soul housed in two different bodies and cosmically connected, understanding each other as no one else could -- no, not even Starfire could know him as Troia does. His eyes shut tightly, and a tear is squeezed from his one visible eye beneath his broken mask.

"Troia..." he murmurs, and he finds himself cherishing the pain from her grip. He doesn't want to die. He wants to live. For the Titans, for Kori...but also for _her_ , his best friend and companion. Feeling her muscles tremble, her whole body shaking with fear and the desperation deep inside to stop before it is too late, his voice breaks. "Donna..." He rasps, half-choking as he tries to reach through to her. "You know me. You're my friend. My best friend and...my sister. My _heart_. I don't...want to lose you..."

Donna freezes. Instantly, the hatred burning within her turns to a look of realisation, of horror to see him beneath her at her mercy, and of sorrow at the destruction she has wrought. Bloody tears flow anew from her eyes, a sob rasping in her throat while Dick feels her body tremble. His words have pierced straight into her -- into his own soul as well, the other half of him he shared with her -- like ice and fire burning simultaneously, and he feels her heart ache as if it were his own. Her fingers that had dug into his scalp ease, and slowly, sorrowfully, she runs her fingers through his hair. "Oh gods...Dick..."

He takes in a deep breath, opening his eyes to see her slowly lean forward and press her forehead against his, now cradling his head within both hands and drawing in deep, shaky breaths of terror and relief. Thank whatever gods were in the universe...it was all over. Dick lifts both arms and wraps them tightly around her, holding her closely to him as she begins to sob. He brings one hand behind her head. "It's all right. It wasn't your fault..."

Again, she draws in a sharp breath, tremors running through her as she lies in his arms. Then, suddenly, she is yanked back fiercely, a half-choked gasp barely escaping her throat from the grappling line that wraps tightly around her neck. Nightwing's eyes widen as he helplessly watches Robin overtake her, pinning both arms behind her back and forcing her onto the floor, face down. He digs his boot fiercely into her lower back. Dick tries to move, to get up to intervene, anger rising again as he watches Donna submit miserably with shame. "Jason, _stop_ ," he growls, but pain sears through his arms and shoulders, preventing him from pushing himself up to stand.

Jason doesn't speak. He doesn't even look at Nightwing, doesn't acknowledge him, as he straddles the Amazon and then draws a powerful taser from his utility belt, one that Dick recognised from the Bat's arsenal -- a small device, but one that packed enough energy to knock the electricity out on an entire block. Ruthlessly, he jabs it into her side and sends a jolt through her, her body tensing and seizing with pain before she quickly falls unconscious.

"Jason!" Dick fumes.

The Boy Wonder moves off of her to the side, and he grabs the silver lariat from her belt before securing her wrists with it behind her. He glares at Nightwing, his brow creasing as he gives the most judgmental and accusatory look with which he has ever insulted his predecessor. " _Somebody_ had to do your job _for_ you. _Leader_."


End file.
